Guide to Climate Justice Legislation

DURING THE 2022 LEGISLATIVE SESSION, we’re focused on advancing the MN350 Action Climate Justice Agenda. We created the agenda with input from all of MN350 Action’s campaigns and teams. Our members were clear: We need a comprehensive vision to confront the interconnected crises of climate change and racial injustice, and we have no time to waste putting the agenda into action. 

 

We invite supporters to stay informed about the progress of climate justice bills and to engage with state leaders as we work together to build power for an equitable clean energy future.

 

MN350 Action will be marshalling advocacy and inviting supporters to contact legislators to support or oppose several bills:

 

The Legislature in 2019 created the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s (MMIW) Task Force with unanimous bipartisan support. The task force issued its report to the Legislature in December, with recommendations for state action to solve the injustices of MMIW and to end violence against Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people in Minnesota.  During the 2021 session, task force authors will follow the report’s recommendations to craft legislation and funding requests. MN350 Action strongly supports the task force’s work to identify causes and solutions for the MMIW epidemic. We are asking state legislators to:
  • Follow the recommendations of the MMIW Task Force, including appropriating requested funds and supporting related legislation
  • Continually review and improve jurisdictional issues between Native nations and Minnesota state government to ensure timely and effective coordination to protect and defend Native lives.
MN350 Action endorses the work of the House Select Committee on Racial Justice, established during the 2020 session to address racism as a public health crisis and to ensure racial equity is prioritized  in all House legislative efforts. The committee of representatives has met several times, exploring how to boost the state’s efforts to understand, address, and dismantle racism and to educate Minnesotans about the effects of racism on public health, family stability, early childhood education, economic development, public safety, housing, and the delivery of human services. The committee released its report to the full Legislature in December. MN350 Action is organizing to raise awareness for the report and to hold legislators accountable for following its recommendations.
Every other year, the Minnesota Legislature crafts a “Bonding Bill” — a method to generate funds for the state to invest in infrastructure projects, historical buildings, and our natural environment. This year’s bill will likely be the largest in our state’s history and could contain Minnesota’s largest investment in climate mitigation and adaptation to date. The initial negotiations for the 2022 bonding bill began with a Democratic proposal that allocated 1/3rd of the bill’s $2.7 billion in funding to climate-related projects. Although this initial proposal must still go through bi-partisan negotiations, the bill could fund a multitude of climate-related projects (e.g. reducing our transport system’s reliance on fossil fuels, improving our cities’ resilience to flooding). We are urging our representatives on both sides of the aisle to use this bill to reduce our state’s emissions and protect the most vulnerable Minnesotans from the dangers of our changing climate.   
Minnesota’s road map for addressing the climate crisis is out of date and it is impeding our ability to protect our climate. In 2007, the Minnesota Legislature passed the bipartisan Next Generation Energy Act which committed the state to cutting greenhouse gas emissions to 80% by 2050. That was 14 years ago. While some states such as California have aggressively transformed their transportation and energy policies, Minnesota hasn’t been as quick to take needed action. We have only achieved an 18% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when we committed to achieving a 30% reduction by 2025. Worse, we now recognize that more rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions are needed to safeguard our ability to live on this planet. Scientific data from the 2020 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change confirm the need to reduce 100% of greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050. That’s why MN350 Action supports the new Next Generation Climate Act to accelerate the pace for achieving Minnesota’s greenhouse gas reduction targets. The Next Generation Climate Act would require Minnesota to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 and 100% by 2050. This bill is critical for establishing the parameters that will guide the state in transforming our climate, energy and transportation policy in coming years. Use our simple form to ask your legislators to support the Next Generation Climate Act. CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE
A transition to electric vehicles would dramatically reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions in Minnesota. MN350 Action supports three bills that are being considered in the Legislature  that are aimed at speeding up that transition.
  • HF 1668 provides rebates for electric vehicle purchases, encourages Minnesota state departments to buy electric cars for their fleets, and requires utilities to file plans with the Public Utilities Commission that promote the use of electric vehicles. 
  • HF 1853 requires the installation of electric vehicle charging stations in state parks.
  • HF 3320 creates a tax credit for purchases of electric cars as well as investment in mini-split heat pumps, other electric vehicles, solar water heaters, energy storage systems, and induction ranges. 

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